Many hydrocarbon producing wells are hydraulically fracked or fractured. During a fracking process, an operator blends particulates such as sand with water and other liquids. The operator feeds the sand-laden slurry to high pressure pumps. The high pressure pumps pump the slurry through frac tree assemblies into one or more wells.
Equipment used in hydraulic fracturing applications associated with hydrocarbon production wells experience high erosion rates relative to other equipment that is used for the production of fluids from the wells. As a result of such erosion, hydraulic fracturing equipment needs to be serviced more often, which can result in a shorter mean time between repair and replacement services required for the hydraulic fracturing equipment than the mean time between repair and replacement services for oilier equipment that is used for me production of fluids from the wells.
In order to meet the demand of high pressure hydraulic fracturing operations, hydraulic fracturing equipment is formed of high strength materials, for example metals or metal reinforced materials. Although such materials are strong and can be very hard, they do not reflect the high energy of slurry panicles that are constantly impinging on the wear surfaces of such equipment, but instead are subjected to the entire force of the collision or impact of such particles on the wear surfaces.